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A short report on the first "public" hearing on nanotechnology and safety nicely captures the strange and desperate desire of nanotechnology advocates to find and speak to a/the public about nanotechnology and safety before it becomes public. Larry Miller was the only representative, and here is what he said:

I've heard quite a few comments this afternoon about the public, about your desire to respond to the public, to inform the public and so on. And lo and behold, here I am. I am a citizen – I am not a doctor, I am not a government employee, I am not a corporate head, I'm just a person.

Afterwards, he " was approached by enthusiastic attendees - scientists and engineers within academia, industry, and government - who congratulated him, noting that even though they had attended countless of meetings like this one, this is the first time they had seen a non-expert citizen testify." The strange enthusiasm and appetite for any kind of public engagement is born, I think, of the overwhelming amount of bad thinking about what publics and publicity is. Rather than understanding publics and public affairs as something made, brought into being by a collective with an understanding of their own agency, it is always understood as a passive space filled with pre-formed, incontrovertible "opinions" that must somehow be extracted and included in discussion. Scientists, engineers, planners, and corporate employees seem incapable of imagining themselves to be the public--in a way that might actually be responsive and responsible--and insist on finding others--common people--to represent that public. sigh.

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